Kitchen Jewelry

For me, starting projects is FUN! 
But I'm finding that finishing projects can be...hard to be fun. 

I'm still having fun in the kitchen, but I'm calling the kitchen cabinet painting project "done".  The drawers were the last big item to check off the list and I'm so happy to say they are complete. 

And beautiful.

Here's they are when I last left off -oh- February 8th.

Handle-less

They were the biggest pain in the neck, because the sliders were cheap and failing.  So I had to replace them all (which you can read about here).  I ran into problems with each new slider since the drawers are poorly constructed slap-together plywood boxes...with crooked drawer fronts.

I admit, those fronts delayed me from drilling the pulls.  I contemplated making new fronts (i'm not that handy - yet), removing and reattaching level fronts (each front has multiple holes already and none are in great shape - another hole could break them) or "hiding" the crookedness by drilling the pulls all level (center on each front but align with each other). 

I chose Plan C.

It felt like a bit of a cop out, given all the work I've put into this project so far.  But I decided taking this route would be best for now and still allow for Plan A if I ever got the courage to make new fronts.  Like when my kids are in college.

Plus, knowing that I couldn't make them any WORSE than they already were right now sealed the deal.  And the fact that a new kitchen is not in my near future...

So after wrangling the sliders, and much contemplation, I gathered the courage to put the new pulls on.

Here they are, Restoration Hardware (on sale) loveliness.

Bistro Pull

Each pull probably costs more than the plywood for the drawer. 

So randomly, on Tuesday, I got to work during morning naptime. 

One Down, Three to Go

The whole mark-it-out-on-the-tape-and-drill-through-it thing worked like a charm.  No splintering, cracks or chipped paint.

Then 2 hours later (drawer #2 gave me trouble), I had this.

(SFX: Angels Singing)

Immediately upon screwing in the last pull...I had to grab George from his crib and jump in the car to pick up the big boys from Kindergarten.  It was a close one. 

So now all I'm doing is staring at the beauty.

Sparkly

The pulls play nice with the knobs.  So nice, that I'm wondering why in the heck it took me so long to suck it up and put them on. 

Maybe I liked watching Steve grimace every time he went to open a drawer with his fingernails grabbing the edge.  I will say, he's their biggest fan.

Here's another before and after:

Before Pulls

After Pulls

Since I'm sticking a fork in it and calling it done, I promise to recap the whole project with hundreds of before and afters. 

But I promise it won't take me almost 3 months to do it ;)